


DTF?

by silver_drip



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Mischief, Secret Relationship, Texting, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7067485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve has a crush on Tony. He glances at Tony's phone and sees that someone sent him a text asking DTF.</p>
            </blockquote>





	DTF?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still working through my Civil War feels, but needed some FrostIron.

* * *

A glint in the corner of his eye caught Steve’s attention. He didn’t tilt his head away from Fury, even though the meeting had been going on for over an hour.

Tony was texting underneath the table, his thumbs moving without his eyes watching. It was a skill Steve was pretty sure he’d never master. It didn’t help that the only people he could text were living in the same tower as him. Along with that, he could always just ask Jarvis to send a message.

Steve knew Tony had friends outside the team, but seeing him interact with others always made him uneasy. Ever since Tony had broken up with Pepper, Steve had been nursing a crush for him. If someone swooped in before Steve worked up the nerve to he would be devastated.

Without thinking Steve discretely looked at the dimmed phone screen. The caller ID read: Hot Stuff.

_DTF?_ Tony typed out and sent. The response came instantly.

_Always ;) ;) ;)_

Before Steve could read more Tony slipped the phone away. His face was straight, but his eyes were glinting with humor.

He puzzled over what DTF could mean. He wasn’t sure, but he had a bad feeling about it.

Steve was pulled out of his musings by an alarm blaring.

Back to work.

* * *

“What does DTF mean?” Steve asked Natasha. Clint snorted loudly and Steve flinched. He hadn’t seen him come in.

“Down to fuck,” Natasha answered, throwing a glare at Clint.

“Someone been sexting you, Cap?” Clint elbowed him in the side. “Or are you going to make a move on Tony. Don’t let his past fool you. He doesn’t just fuck anyone. You need to wine and dine him.”

“This isn’t about—”

“Who’s being wined and dined?” Tony asked while walking in. He was wearing his skin tight undersuit. It always short circuited Steve’s brain. “I can get someone reservations if they need it.”

“No one’s being wined and dined, Tony.” Steve was fighting for control of his facial expressions.

“That’s a shame. The papz love when one of us is seen doing something normal.” Steve didn’t notice the phone in Tony’s hand until it buzzed. “I already sent in my debrief paperwork. I’ll catch you crazy kids later.”

Steve watched Tony walk away, entranced by the way he moved.

“You saw DTF on Tony’s phone, didn’t you?” Natasha said. She let out a thoughtful hum. “Looks like someone has already made a move. You have some catching up to do.”

Steve stared back and forth between them.

“Help?”

* * *

Natasha had dressed him up. Clint had scouted the area.

Everything was in place. All that was left was for Steve to ask—

And beg to god that Tony didn’t turn him down.

For once Tony wasn’t in his lab.

Steve found him in the penthouse dining room, using pen and paper. He quickly hid what he’d been writing.

“What brings you to my corner of the tower, Capsicle?”

“I was wondering if you, ah— What were you writing?”

“Porn, porny word porn. Sexy sexy stuff. Gets the juices flowing.”

“Ah, okay.” Steve couldn’t fight down his blush. “Do you want to go to lunch with me?”

Tony stared at him for a moment and Steve wanted to squirm.

“I can eat.”

* * *

Tony was loading up his cheeseburger with fries.

Steve’s burger looked pitiful in comparison. They had ordered the same thing, except Steve had gotten onion rings instead of fries. The buns of his burger were flattened. The two beef patties were skewed in opposite directions. There was a handful of pickles and only one measly piece of lettuce. The tomato was gooey. The cheese was missing. There was way too much mustard and only a dot of ketchup.

Steve took a bite and tasted straight salt. He coughed it up, doing his best to hide behind a napkin.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, still putting more fries onto his burger.

“Went down the wrong pipe.” He didn’t want to ruin their little date by seeming snooty and having the waiter take his food back. He’d eaten worse in his time.

He took a gulp of his ice tea and promptly spit it out. His tongue felt like it was on fire.

“That bad?” Tony swiped up the drink and took a sip before Steve could stop him. “Yup, this is southern ice tea. Pretty much diabetes in a cup.” Tony took another swig and traded their glasses. “Mine’s not as sweet.”

“Thanks.” He beamed at Tony and took a sip from the straw Tony had left behind. The fire was tenfold. He lurched forward and coughed it back into the cup. There was the loud crashing of plates.

Steve looked up, hand covering his mouth. He’d accidently bumped into a waitress and she’d spilled at least three plates on their table and Tony.

“I’m so sorry.” Steve stood to help the waitress to her feet and ended up slipping on a pink milkshake. He fell and the table went with him, splintering in half under his weight. Tony swore loudly.

Steve was sprawled out, covered in food and drinks. All he wanted to do was sink into the floor and hope mass amnesia was a real thing.

He saw Tony brush off the broken piece of table that must have nailed him when Steve broke it. Tony flinched as he stood before helping the waitress up.

“My hero,” she practically purred, her slender, pale fingers gliding over his shoulder and down his arm. Tony caught her hand and she laughed before slipping out of his hold. As she turned away, her black hair slapping him in the face.

“Can we never speak of this again?” Steve begged.

“Sorry, but the Cap is out of the bag.” Tony pointed his thumb at the various onlookers, many of which were snapping photos and recording videos.

Steve groaned and hid his face behind his hands.

* * *

“There’s failing and then there’s _failing_. You fall in the latter of the two.” Clint was watching an online clip of Steve falling in slow motion repeatedly. The last one he’d played had been the whole incident narrated by a dry, English voice.

“This falls under cruel and unusual punishments.” Natasha closed Clint’s laptop.

“I wasn’t _making_ him watch it.” Clint tried to open his laptop, but Natasha held the screen down.

“No plan survives the first contact intact.” Her no nonsense attitude was almost reassuring. Almost.

“This isn’t a battle, Nat.”

“Love is a battlefield,” Clint whispered dramatically.

“We just need a new plan.”

* * *

Tony was texting again.

Tony was grinning like the Mad Hatter and texting. His eyes were bright and for once he looked relaxed.

Steve wished he could make him look that way.

“I’m going clothing shopping. Want to come with me?” Steve knew it was an irresistible offer for Tony. He’d been trying to get Steve to go shopping with him for months now.

“Finally! Yes, just give me a minute to change!” Tony hopped off the couch. “Don’t move an inch!”

Steve sighed happily, watching him go.

A buzzing caught his attention.

Tony had left his phone on the chair. It buzzed again and the name Hot Stuff blinked on the screen before fading out.

The words _Administrator’s Lock_ flashed onto the screen in Jarvis’ familiar font. Steve pointedly looked away from it.

Tony reappeared a few minutes later looking snazzy in a leather coat Steve had never seen before. Tony grabbed his phone, sent off a quick message, before shoving it in his pocket and pulling Steve to the elevator.

* * *

“I already have a tux,” Steve said weakly.

“The fact that you think only having one is enough flabbergasts me!” Steve smiled at Tony’s wild hand gestures. “You’re a public figure. You can’t wear the same tux to every charity event we attend!”

“But they all look the same,” Steve said with false naivety.

Tony let out a strangled off noise, clearly pained. Steve laughed at his indignant expression as they walked into the tailor shop.

Tony didn’t remove his sunglasses despite the soft lighting.

Tony and the shop owner spoke in fast Korean, periodically pointing in Steve’s direction.

Steve felt Tony’s eyes rake over him. Their back and forth became faster. They abruptly stopped talking and both started laughing.

“We have fun,” Tony said to Steve while dragging him over to the platform so that his measurements could be taken.

Tony plopped down on a plush chair, somehow owning the whole room despite only occupying a corner.

Steve had no idea how he did that, but it was just one of the endearing things that attracted him to Tony.

The tailor started maneuvering Steve around, expertly using his measuring tape.

His back and forth with Tony was light and Steve felt his earlier embarrassment fading away.

The tailor prompted him to turn around. His conversation with Tony didn’t still even when Steve saw Tony pull out his phone in the mirror.

Something about his expression became gentle, more open as he looked at his phone.

When Steve turned around the phone and expression were gone.

* * *

The phone was out again. Tony was on the other side of the high end store, comparing different ties.

Even from across the room Steve could read the text message.

_DTF?_

Tony grinned.

_Not today. Shopping w Stebe._

Tony shifted and his phone went out of view.

How was he supposed to compete with someone he didn’t even know?

The world felt wholly unfair. Everything had already been stripped away from him and now he was losing Tony too.

Steve breathed out and picked a shirt for Tony.

“This will look good on you,” Steve said while walking over to him.

“That’s because I make everything look good.” Tony winked at Steve playfully.

“That you do,” Steve sighed out when Tony was out of hearing range. He was more than tempted to follow him into the changing room, but that was too bold and assuming for Steve’s taste.

Outside the store a skeevy looking man grabbed a young woman’s purse, running off with it. Steve dropped what he was doing to give chase.

* * *

When Steve got back Tony was just coming out of the changing room. His lips were red and his hair was mussed. His gait was languid and his smile was sinful.

“Where’d you run off to?” Tony asked, pulling his sunglasses out of his pocket and flicking them open. He nibbled on the end. Steve zeroed in on the motion. “You still in there, Brain Freeze?”

“Snatch and grab,” Steve mumbled dumbly.

“You’re such a boy scout.” Tony slipped on his sunglasses and patted Steve on the shoulder. “I’m starving. Mexican food sound good to you?”

Steve could only nod in agreement.

* * *

Captain America hopped off his motorcycle and into a sprint. He could hear screaming ahead and wished he could move faster.

Loki wasn’t their deadliest enemy, but he tended to cause the most destruction.

They were keeping Bruce in reserve unless things started going south.

“ _I’ve got eyes on him,_ ” Natasha reported. “ _Loki released a group of rhino like creatures._ ”

“ _They spit gunk,_ ” Clint added.

Steve joined the fray, getting his shield up just in time to halt one of the rhinos from hitting a storefront.

The impact against his shield jolted him backwards, but his feet were firmly planted on the ground.  

The monster he was holding back belched out a green puss. It bubbled and Steve found himself flat on his ass.

“The gunk is slippery,” he told his teammates, his thoughts briefly flickering to the diner incident.

A shadow descended on him.

“Where is Iron Man?” Loki asked. His eyes were glowing dangerously. Captain America threw his shield at him, but it passed right through Loki. “Don’t make me ask again.” Loki raised his scepter. Rifts appeared behind him and more alien rhinos appeared.

“ _Twelve seconds ‘til I get a clear shot,_ ” Hawkeye said into Steve’s ear.

“That’s none of your business. Stop hiding behind your illusions and fight me!”

“ _Reading ya clear, Cap. I’ll keep looking for the real one. Tony hasn’t reported in. He should have been here already._ ”

“I see,” Loki said after he appeared street level. He threw his hands out wide, green cascading from them. Steve went to attack him, but a rhino got in his way, nearly vomiting on him. Loki frowned and pulled out a cell phone.

“He has a phone. I think this is the real Loki.”

Loki held up his hand. All the rhinos froze. Steve grabbed his shield from the ground and was about to throw it at Loki when their eyes met. Loki’s eyes promised a new level of destruction if he was interrupted.

“He said he was down to fight,” Loki mumbled as he put in a number and called it.

Loki began tapping his foot on the ground as he waited for his call to be answered. His frown grew as seconds passed.

Steve heard the faint sound of Tony’s answering machine message.

“I think he just called Tony’s phone,” Steve said, sounding befuddled.

“ _Why the hell does he even have Tony’s number?_ ” Clint asked as the alien rhinos started popping out of existence.

Loki’s thumbs flew over the screen.

“ _Bruce do you have Tony’s location?_ ” There was no response. Steve felt the worry in his chest amplify. “ _I’m moving to Bruce’s location._ ”

“The tracker in Tony’s phone has been disabled or broken.” Loki squeezed his phone. It creaked dangerously. “What is the location of your beast. I shall teleport us there.”

“Not going to happen. For all I know you’re the one who took Tony. I won’t let you have Bruce too.”

“ _He’s missing. It looks like there was a fight here. There’s pieces of Tony’s suit and a dead, unidentified man._ ”

Loki let out a pained noise and disappeared.

“What just happened?” Steve asked, staring at the spot Loki had just been occupying.

“ _I have no idea._ ”

* * *

It took them half a day and nearly all of Natasha’s contacts to find Tony and Bruce’s location.

They were at an AIM base that was working with General Ross.

Steve was trying to stay calm as the quinjet flew there.

“Breathe,” Natasha instructed him, placing her hand on his back.

“What if they’re not alright? If they took at Tony’s arc reactor. What if they’re torturing him? What if Loki is working with them— If it was all one big plan?!”

“They were probably just after Bruce and Tony got in the way.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Steve squeezed his eyes shut.

“Focus on the mission. We can’t change the past.”

“Worrying will make you lose your edge,” Clint said from the front of the quinjet.

“I haven’t told him I love him yet. What if I never get the chance to?” His mind went to the date he missed with Peggy, how he lost her before he could profess his feelings for her.

No matter how hard he tried he felt like he could never win.

“Drop in thirty seconds.” Steve got up and checked his parachute. He and Natasha went to the back of the quinjet. Clint would be in the second wave of their attack.

They jumped and the cold, harsh wind reminded Steve of the moment he lost Bucky, wind whipping in his face as Bucky faded from view.

Steve waited to open his parachute, wanting to get to Tony as soon as possible. The ground was coming fast. The straps bit into him as he pulled the ripcord. He landed hard, unstrapped, and stormed the base, not waiting for Natasha.

He froze in entrance, taking in the carnage.

“They were facing the entrance. Looks like we weren’t the first ones here.” She checked one of the corpses. “They’re fresh.”

They moved forward cautiously and in tandem.

There was a trail of bodies. He hoped Tony and Bruce wouldn’t be part of it.

Hawkeye joined them five minutes later from a different corridor.

“No living hostiles in sight. I’m going to loop around.”

Steve nodded and Clint disappeared down another hallway.

Steve’s phone vibrated in his pocket, making him jump. Natasha swung around, looking for an attacker.

Steve pulled out the phone, feeling sick. He knew it had to be Tony and Bruce’s captors demanding some sort of payment.

“Tony and I are safe,” Bruce said and Steve let out a relieved puff of air.

“We’re in the building. What’s your location?”

“Umm, we’ll come to you. Just go to the entrance. We’ll be there in about… fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Steve was too impatient to wait that long. He needed to see them himself and make sure they were okay.

“Denied. What’s your location?” Bruce sighed.

“Subbasement four.” Bruce hung up.

“They’re in subbasement four and alright. It could be a trap,” Steve told Clint through the comlink.

“ _I’m on my way._ ”

Steve and Natasha didn’t see another living soul until Bruce came into sight. He was sitting on the ground, meditating.

“Where’s Tony?” Steve asked while rushing forward.

“You don’t want to go in there,” Bruce said while motioning to the door behind him. “Give him another ten minutes.”

Steve ran by him, not heeding his warning. He threw the door open and stopped so fast that he nearly fell over.

The image in front of him made no sense. Tony was pinned in place between Loki and the wall. His bare legs were wrapped around Loki as— as—

Steve felt his heart shattering.

“More,” Tony begged, one hand digging into Loki’s hair as the other held onto him tightly.

“Anthony.” There was so much love and reverence in Loki’s voice that Steve couldn’t breathe.

“Love. You. So. Fucking. Much.” Each word was punctuated with a harsh thrust of Loki’s hips.

He felt Natasha’s hand on his arm, but couldn’t look away.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” Natasha said, tugging on his arm. “This looks like a battle you can’t win.”


End file.
